At a Monday news conference about an endorsement by the National Right to Life Committee, Gov. Phil Bryant and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith were asked about Hyde-Smith's comments about attending a hanging, captured in a video posted online Sunday.
Luke Ramseth

In this July 27, 2017, file photo Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith speaks at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Miss.(Photo: Rogelio V. Solis, AP)

WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended a segregation academy in high school and praised a Confederate soldier's attempts to "defend his homeland," according to reports.

The reports, from the Jackson Free Press, an independent newspaper in Mississippi, and CNN, are the latest to bring up Mississippi's racist history ahead of a tense runoff election between Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, who is vying to become the state's first African-American in the Senate since the Reconstruction.

In recent weeks, Hyde-Smith was criticized for a joke where she said she'd gladly attend a "public hanging" and be in the "front row." She was also captured on video making a joke about voter suppression, and photos posted to Facebook in 2014 show her with Confederate items and a caption reading, "Mississippi history at its best!"

Espy has pointed repeatedly to the comments while campaigning. Hyde-Smith apologized for the "hanging" comments during a debate earlier this week and dubbed the voting suppression comments a "joke."

But the continued reports have garnered national attention to the runoff race, which is expected to see a higher-than-average turnout. President Donald Trump is planning multiple rallies next week ahead of the election to help lock another Republican seat in the Senate after large losses in the House allowed Democrats to gain control.

The Jackson Free Press reported Friday that Hyde-Smith attended Lawrence County Academy, a school founded in 1970, the year many Mississippi public high schools integrated.

The Free Press reported the school was created for parents who did not want to send their children to schools with black students. The newspaper included photos from the school's yearbook, including a group photo of the cheerleading squad, of which Hyde-Smith was a member.

The photo shows the school's mascot dressed in what appears to be a Confederate uniform holding a Confederate flag.

Hyde-Smith campaign spokeswoman Melissa Scallan responded to the report by saying: “In their latest attempt to help Mike Espy, the gotcha liberal media has taken leave of their senses. They have stooped to a new low, attacking her entire family and trying to destroy her personally instead of focusing on the clear differences on the issues between Cindy Hyde-Smith and her far-left opponent.”

On Saturday, another report delved into Hyde-Smith's work as a legislator and found she once praised a Confederate soldier for his work to "defend his homeland." CNN reports that as a state senator in 2007, Hyde-Smith co-sponsored a resolution that honored Effie Lucille Nicholson Pharr, whose father was a soldier in Robert E. Lee's army.

The resolution said her father "fought to defend his homeland and contributed to the rebuilding of the country," CNN reported.